Open Thread: What's Your Preferred Pop-Tart?

When I was a kid, my mother only allowed the consumption of Pop-Tarts once a year, during our annual summer beach vacation. With such a limited timeframe, I had to be careful about flavor selection, because the only thing worse than not being allowed to eat Pop-Tarts is winding up with a box of Wild Berry Pop-Tarts during the one week a year you can get away with eating them. So I played it straight, sticking to classic Frosted Strawberry, or, very occasionally, branching out to Frosted Brown Sugar Cinnamon. My technique involves gentle toasting, and a swift eating all around the biscuit edges to savor the jelly/frosting filling in the middle.

Unsurprisingly, it turns out that Serious Eaters are very particular about their Pop-Tart preferences. Ad Sales Director Jen also goes Frosted Strawberry, but leaves the pastry untoasted ("I don't like warm fruit") and will eat around the entire edge carefully, then sometimes discard the core. Sweets editor Carrie is another Frosted Strawberry fan, but as far as she's concerned, toasting is a must: "It really brought home the power of heat and acted as a precursor to baking for me," she says. "It makes it taste so much better." New York Editor Max, however, goes the total opposite: he's an ice-cold 'Smores or Chocolate Peanut Butter man—quite literally, as his preferred temperature is frozen. One thing we can all agree on: "There's absolutely nothing worse than a "healthy" imitation Pop-Tart without frosting," says Cereal Eats columnist Leandra.

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